Scott Cherry of Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage and Dave Magdziasz of PGA West took the first steps toward a possible appearance in the 2025 PGA Championship with strong finishes at the PGA of Southern California Professional Championship on Wednesday.
Kyle Mendoza of Hacienda Golf Club in La Habra Heights won his third SCPGA Professional Championship and in the process earned a berth into The American Express PGA Tour event in La Quinta in January.
Cherry and Magdziasz finished among the top 11 scores and ties of the SCPGA event, advancing them to the 2025 PGA of America National Professional Championship. The top 20 golfers from that event, featuring club professionals and teachers from all 44 national sections of the PGA, will play in the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow in North Carolina.
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Cherry finished the three-day event tied for sixth at 1-under 212, including rounds of 72, 68 and 72. Cherry had fallen out of a National Professional berth earlier in the round by playing his first 16 holes in 3-over par, but he birdied the 17th and 18th holes to clinch his berth.
Magdziasz, who works at the resort courses at PGA West, finished in a six-way tie for eighth at even-par 212. Unlike Cherry, Magdziasz stumbled down the stretch, playing his last four holes in 3-over including one bogey and one double bogey. But two closing pars were enough for him to retain the national berth.
Nate Williams of the Hideaway Golf Club in La Quinta finished one shot out of a national berth with a 54-hole score of 1-over 214 despite rallying with a 68 Wednesday.
The tournament was played at Hillcrest Country Club and Rancho Park Golf Course, both in Los Angeles and both par-71s, with golfers playing each of the courses the first two days and Hillcrest in the third round.
Mendoza previously won the championship of the Southern California section of the PGA of America in 2020 and 2021. He finished with a 67 on Wednesday for a three-day total of 11-under 202. Michael Block, himself a three-time winner of the SCPGA title, was second at 206.
The winner of the championship earns a berth in the 156-player field of The American Express, which is played within the Southern California section. The winner also receives a berth in the Monday qualifying tournament for the PGA Tour’s World Wide Technology Championship to be played in November in Mexico. Second place also gets a Monday qualifying berth for the Mexico tournament.
Mendoza missed the cut in the 2022 American Express, finishing three rounds at 7-over 223.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Two Palm Springs area golf pros advance to national SCPGA championship
